


Surprise Visitor

by lasairfhiona



Category: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-03
Updated: 2011-10-03
Packaged: 2017-10-24 07:04:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/260458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee's out of town when Harry gets a surprise visitor</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise Visitor

_"Admiral Nelson."_

Harry reached over to the intercom when he heard his name and pressed the button. "Yes, Angie," he said absently still reading the report in front of him.

 _"Commander Crane's mother is here to see him."_

Closing the folder on his desk and concealing the 'classified' report under another file, Harry pushed  
back from his desk. He stood, telling his secretary, "Send her in," as he walked around his desk.

"Mrs. Crane, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said as he met her in the middle of his office.

"Admiral Nelson," she said taking his hand. "Please call me Sarah. Lee has told me so much about you I feel as if I already know you."

"Please, have a seat," Harry directed her to the comfortable chairs opposite his desk. He rested his hip on the corner of his desk, half sitting on the edge. "Call me Harry," he offered. "What can I do or you?"

She looked around the office quickly then back at the Admiral. "I came to see Lee, but I understand from your secretary that he's out of town."

Harry nodded. "I'm sorry. He's away at a conference and won't be back until next week."

"Oh," she said, clearly disappointed. "I'm sorry I'm going to miss him. I'm only going to be in Santa Barbara over night."

"I'm about done here. Why don't you join me in the penthouse for dinner," Harry offered. It would give him a chance to get to know Lee's mother and make sure she was taken care of for the short time she was in town. Besides, he'd been looking for an excuse to get out of the office. He'd been restless all day and missing his lover and with Lee gone, he didn't have a reason to be out of the office early, let alone anyone to drag him away when he got lost in his work. Now he had a reason.

Before he and Lee had become lovers, he never would have looked for an excuse to leave work. He would have just continued to work, not caring how long he sat behind his desk or stood at a table in his lab. Lee had changed that. Lee made him notice the world around him more than he ever would have before.

"I'd love to," Sarah agreed. "Thank you."

Harry slid off the desk and walked around, gathering files and stuffing them into his briefcase as he spoke. "Let me gather these files and we can go. I hope you don't mind watching me cook?" He'd have  
to remember to watch what he said about he and Lee's friendship. He didn't know whether Sarah Crane knew about his relationship with her son. Lee had planned on telling his mother but Harry didn't know if he'd done so yet.

"Not as long as you don't mind me offering to help?" she answered smiling.

"Not at all," he told her. He was actually looking forward to the evening. He hadn't been looking forward to spending another night alone. "After you," he said, escorting Lee's mother through his office door. "Angie, I'm leaving for the day," he told his secretary as he walked past her desk, grabbing a handful of candy corn from the dish that appeared on her desk today. Halloween candy must have come out in the stores. Angie knew how much he like the Halloween sweet and kept a dish filled starting as soon as the candy came out in the stores and lasting until well after Thanksgiving.

X*X*X*X*X

Harry sat with Sarah Crane on the comfortable sofa in front of the fireplace with their after dinner coffee. They had laughed and talked their way through dinner preparation and dinner. She'd kept him entertained with stories of Lee's childhood antics, stories he was sure that his lover would hope she  
had forgotten.

"Harry," she said having gotten over the habit of calling him Admiral. "Would you mind if I left something for Lee with you?" she asked, putting her cup down on the coffee table.

"Not at all. I'll see that he gets it the minute he gets back."

Sarah reached in to the tote bag she'd left sitting near the end of the sofa where she was sitting. "I went through all of my old pictures and put an album together for Lee from his childhood."

"May I?" Harry asked reaching for the album.

"Certainly."

Together they went through the album page by page and Harry listened as she told him about every picture. There were baby pictures of Lee with his big brown eyes and a head full of curly black hair.

"He'll like this," he said, pointing to a picture of a very young Lee with a man that could only be his father.

Sarah looked over at the pictures Harry was pointing to. "We never had many of Lee and his father. I  
usually had to wrestle the camera away from Neil to get the few I have of them together," she paused the added quietly, "Neil would have been proud of Lee."

"He's a good man and a good officer," Harry reassured her.

"You're good friends aren't you?" she asked, hearing the admiration in Harry's voice.

"The best," Harry replied, turning the page of the album hoping to distract her. If she pursued his feelings about Lee then there was a chance that he might give something away if he hadn't already. His pride in Lee is something he'd never let pass though.

Before either of them could comment on the next page of pictures a voice called from the foyer, "Harry! I'm home!"

Harry quickly turned on the sofa and exclaimed, "Lee!" as his lover came around the wall that hid the front door from the rest of the penthouse.

"I thought I'd surprise you and we could have the wee…" Lee stopped mid word when he saw who was sitting next to Harry. "Mom!"

"Lee," she said getting up and coming around the end of the sofa to greet him and give him a hug.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" he asked as they embraced, looking over her shoulder at Harry behind them.

"I'm traveling with some friends and I thought I'd come down to Santa Barbara for a night to see you first," she explained. "Harry has been kind enough to cut short his work day and entertain me for the evening."

Lee looked over at Harry and raised his eyebrow -- his workaholic lover cutting a day short? "That's very kind of you, Admiral," he commented resorting back to the formality they used when in public.

Sarah Crane kept her arm around her son and laughed. "I think the cat is out of the bag Lee."

"Mom?" Lee questioned. "I'm not sure what you are talking about."

Lee's response only made his mother laugh harder.

"Mom?" he questioned pulling back slightly, but keeping an arm linked with hers.

"Lee, don't you think I figured out that you and Harry are more than friends?" she asked her son, but the question left both men speechless and sputtering. She patted Lee's hand. "Son I have been listening to you talk about Admiral Nelson for months now and I couldn't decide if you just had a bad case of hero worship or if it was something else. But after spending a pleasant evening with Harry I decided that whatever it was it was mutual and until you walked in I wasn't sure if you'd acted upon it or not," she explained bluntly then reached over to link her arm through Harry's as well. "Now no fussing. Either of you," she directed then squeezed Lee's arm. "I'm glad you found a good man like Harry," she paused, surprising both men. "Now let me show you what I brought for you."

Harry allowed her to lead both he and Lee back over to the sofa, putting Lee between them as they sat down.

"Here," she said, handing Lee the album.

Lee sat back with the album on his lap. The page opened showed a 5 x 7 of Lee and his father. "Wow," he said breathlessly as he looked at the photo.

"You must have been about five in that picture," Sara told Lee. "It was the first time you were going to go trick or treating. I was going to take you but your father insisted he be the one to take you. He came home from work early, helped you get your pirate costume complete with eye patch and plastic sword, on and then took you around the neighborhood. When you got home the two of you would dump all your candy out and go through it. He pointed out all the candy that was "good" and pushed aside all the candy that wasn't. I used to tease him that he was just teaching you to like the same kind of candy so that between the two of you there would always be sweets in the house."

Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the image of Lee as a child going through his candy. "Is that where you got your dislike of candy corn?"

Sarah joined Harry laughter. "Oh Neil hated candy corn. Lee used to eat it as a child but once daddy said it was 'yucky' that was the end of that."

"Hmmm…" Harry said thoughtfully.

"Harry…" Lee warned, laughing. "I better not start finding candy corn on my desk."

"Oh no, Lee. I wouldn't do that," Harry replied, knowing full well there would be other ways to tease his lover.

"Somehow I don't believe that," Lee commented, still laughing as he turned the page on the album.

Harry sat close to Lee. He was turned slightly with one arm resting along the back of the sofa, caressing the nape of Lee's neck, as they continued to look at the pictures. There were more pictures of Lee and his father at Halloween and other times through out Lee's childhood -- all having a story to go along with them. The last picture in the album was a photo of Lee and his mother and Chip and his mother. Harry couldn't help but smile. It was almost ironic that he should end up with both of those men on his Seaview.

"Thanks, Mom," Lee said, closing the album and leaning over to kiss his mother on the cheek before he sat it down on the coffee table.

Sarah simply patted her son's hand. "You're welcome," she said before standing, "It's time for me to be going."

Harry and Lee both stood along with her. "You don't have to go. You are more than welcome to stay in our guest room," Harry offered joining Lee to stand in front o her.

She reached out and laid her hand on Harry's arm, squeezing it gently. "Thank you, but no. All of my things are at the hotel and I have to meet my friends in the morning."

"You sure you can't stay?" Lee asked.

"Not this time. I just wanted to stop in and give you the album. I'll be back in Santa Barbara in a month or so and who know by then maybe Harry will have convinced you to give candy corn a try again."

Lee and Harry both laughed. "We'll see," Harry said.

"Not a chance," Lee said adamantly.

Sarah joined in the laughter. "I'll leave you two to argue."

"I'll walk you to your car," Lee said, helping his mother with her jacket and handbag. " I'll be back in a minute Harry."

They said their goodbyes as Lee escorted his mother to her car. Harry retrieved his cup of coffee and went to stand by the windows, waiting for Lee to return. His lover had come back from the conference early for them to spend a quiet weekend together and he had every intention of showing Lee just how glad he was to see him.

 

*End*


End file.
